As a traumatic journalist who witnessed the Hong Kong democratic protest and suppression from China, my camera saved me from time to time through recording activists’ imprisonment.
Political imprisonment reshaped the destinies of a generation, not only tearing families apart, emotions betrayed, and dreams dissolved, but also causing us to lose sight of who we once were amid the torrents of growing up — If we had known that the world would change us, would we still have been brave enough to attempt to change the world?
After over four years of recording two protagonists and their ups and downs, perhaps the only things that can change are the attitude with which we confront suffering. The summer was over. Yet, having witnessed every struggle through my camera, it was seen how women’s resilience could embrace hardship with hope and lightness. I feel now, all that once seemed in vain was indeed worth the endeavour.
Kwan Ling Mok is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker from Hong Kong. She is a Knight Wallace Fellow 2023-2024, and The VII Foundation Film Lab fellow 2026-2027. She is now directing her debut feature, A Thousand Winds, which was a recipient of the Asian Network of Documentary Fund at the Busan International Film Festival, the Golden Horse Film Festival Project Promotion and Sheffield DocFest MeetMarket.
Sin-yi Choi is an independent producer, researcher and curator from Hong Kong, currently a PhD candidate at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. She also served as a board member of Videotage and Unlock Dancing Plaza. She previously worked as a production manager for the documentary Blue Island (2022).